I’m saving up for a ticket to new cinema!
COUNCIL LEADER CRITICISES PRICES
A COUNCIL leader has criticised the price of tickets at a new cinema in Beeston and says he is “still trying to save up” to pay for a visit.
The Arc Cinema, the first of its kind in Beeston for more than 50 years, opened in May.
It forms part of a multi-phase, £50 million Beeston Square redevelopment in the town centre.
The cinema will be complemented by shops and restaurants, as well as a 132-apartment residential block.
While the new cinema was welcomed for bringing more people into the town, ticket prices were questioned during Broxtowe Borough Council’s latest policy and performance meeting.
Council leader Milan Radulovic who represents Eastwood Hill Top for Labour, said : “I would love to go the cinema, but being a poor boy from Eastwood I’m still trying to save up.
“I’m trying to save up for the entrance fee for a film.”
It costs £7.95 for an adult during off-peak hours and £9.95 at peak times. For students with a valid card, the price is £6.50 and £7.50 respectively.
According to the Office for National Statistics, the cost of cinema, theatre and concert tickets has risen by almost 10 percent in the past year.
The redevelopment project has been hailed as a success, however.
Councillor Steve Carr, deputy leader of the council, who represents Beeston North for the Liberal Democrats, said: “Each time I have been to the Arc Cinema it has been full of students, which is good news because normally they go the other way. So if we can attract them this way, certainly it’ll only be a good thing for the future.”
And Conservative Councillor Richard Jackson, who represents
Attenborough and Chilwell East, added: “The fact Beeston as a whole centre is holding its own much better than many up and down the country, part of that is due to the success of the cinema.”
He did, however, call for footfall data to be monitored and shared, to help market the site to better effect in future.
Units 2, 3 and 6 of Beeston Square are leased, but supply chain and labour difficulties have led to a delay in the opening of these businesses until 2022, about four months behind schedule.
Doughnotts, which had planned to open in one of the units, pulled out, but the council emphasised there had been interest from numerous other businesses which hope to take its place.
The council says the units will “ideally” open early in the year, and shoppers in the area recently spoke of what they would like to see open in the empty lots in the near future.